Poke-Factor
by DragonShadow
Summary: Ash and co form a new unit to investigate Pokemon legends
1. The Legend Of The Steel Serpent

Poke-Factor 1: Legend of the Steel Serpent  
  
  
Ash looked out the back of his window, watching Misty playing with Togepi in the sprinkler that was spraying water in every which direction. He had no clue why she'd stuck around after he'd failed to win any pokemon league tournaments. He was a loser, why would anyone wanna hang around with him for no reason?   
  
He smiled a bit as her short yellow shirt clung to her wetly, almost see through being so thin and wet. He didn't know why he liked to watch her so much, but he just couldn't help it. Especially when she didn't know he was watching, she just seemed so carefree when she didn't know he was around. She always seemed to be hiding something when he was around.  
  
He couldn't help but sigh a bit as he leaned his head against the window, the tip of his cap clinking gently against it. He could sit here watching her all day, but he knew his mom would make him go do something productive in a few minutes.  
  
Off-handedly he took note of Pikachu running out to join Misty and Togepi playing in the sprinkler, his ears twitching happily as he playfully leapt on Togepi, who giggled and fought back cutely.   
  
Again Ash let out an almost wistful sigh. "If only I were as brave as you Pikachu, I'd be out there too." With his pokemon journey at an end... Or rather an impass, as he was planning on leaving again the minute something came up... He'd really begun to notice things in a whole new light. Most notably Misty, who seemed to become more... Attractive to him by the day.  
  
"Are you okay Ash?" Misty's voice beside him scared him stiff, his eyes going wide in surprise. He quickly forced himself to calm down before turning away from the window to face her, her still sopping wet.  
  
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?" He said quickly, hearing his own voice quivering a bit as he spoke. So close to her sopping wet, he had almost a perfectly clear view of the evidence of her growing up.  
  
"You're shivering, and I thought I was the wet one here." Playfully she rings the water out of her ponytail, flinging it at Ash, who puts a defensive hand up. "That's better." She giggled loudly.  
  
"Hey, cut that out." He said a bit upset as he tried to brush the water off of him.  
  
"Seriously Ash you need to lighten up. Life's not ALL about being gloomy and determined you know. Just look at Pikachu." He looked in the direction she indicated. Pikachu was still outside, playing around with Togepi, who was running around almost in circles trying to catch ahold of Pikachu's tail.  
  
"What about Pikachu?" Ash asked confused. He really didn't see why she'd had to point him out.  
  
"He's having fun! Yeesh, what do I have to spell everything out for you?" Angrily she reached out to grab his ear, dragging him with her as she headed back outside.  
  
"Ow! Stop it Misty!" Ash cried, stumbling along after her so she wouldn't yank his ear right off his head in her anger.  
  
"Here see?" She shoved him into the water from the sprinkler, soaking him almost instantly. "Now have fun before I get mad!" She shoved him again, pushing him to the ground where he landed in a small mud puddle on his back.  
  
"OW!" Ash cried, arching his back hugely, reaching one hand behind him.  
  
"Ah you wimp." Misty said, walking toward him, ignoring the water from the sprinkler. Ash simply grunted with pain as he pulled something out of his back, bringing it around to look at it. It was a small needle, about the size of his finger with a bit of his blood on it.  
  
"What is... This..." Ash said, feeling his eyelids grow heavier even as he sat there, staring at the stinger from his back.  
  
"Ash? Are you okay? ASH!" He collapsed backward, but the last thing he felt Misty's was arms catch him before he hit the ground again.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ash stared at the doctor for a while, who was examining the needle from his back. His eyes were still heavy and his arms felt totally numb, but he didn't feel particularly faint otherwise.  
  
"Where did it come from doctor?" He heard his mom ask worriedly, watching him intently.  
  
The doctor merely smiled. "It's just a Weedle horn. You must have landed on it when you fell and its horn became embedded in your back."  
  
"Will he be okay?" His mom asked worriedly.  
  
"He'll be fine, Weedle poison isn't particularly powerful. He'll be as good as new by tomorrow morning." The doctor said as he packed up his things to head out.  
  
"Thanks so much for coming, I'll show you out." Ash's mom said, leading the doctor toward the front of the house, away from Ash's room.  
  
He smiled slightly to himself, then caught sight of Misty glaring at him evilly. "What did I do now?" He asked irritably.  
  
"You scared the heck out of me Ash! All because you had to land on a stupid Weedle!"  
  
"You pushed me into the mud." He said defensively.  
  
"Well all I wanted was to get you out of this stupor you've been in since you lost the pokemon league! Only you would have had to land in the exact spot that Weedle was in!"  
  
Ash sat up as quickly as he could, looking seriously miffed. "Look Misty, I'm not in the mood for this. Can't you chew me out tomorrow?"  
  
Misty growled deep in her throat, glaring at him with all the fires of a womanly fury burning in her eyes. "Ash you need to grow up and start paying attention to things around you before you get hurt worse than you did!" With that she turned and stomped out in a huff, slamming the door behind her.  
  
Ash sighed, lying back in the bed, his energy expended. Idly he watched, Pikachu run into the room and hop up on the bed, looking up at him and chattering to him worriedly. "I'm fine Pikachu. Just give me a few hours." Ash said, trying to calm him down.  
  
Pikachu didn't believe him however, so proceeded to give him an examination, putting one tiny hand against Ash's forehead and sending a few volts running through Ash's body. "Grghk! Was that really necessary?" Pikachu chattered apologetically and settled himself against Ash's side, curling up into a little ball to go to sleep, his face watching Ash carefully.  
  
Ash smiled as his eyes slowly closed, finally letting him drift off to sleep away the effects of the poison.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Professor Oak walked into the main room of his lab just as the video phone began beeping. "Who could that be at this time of night?" He walked over and turned it on, watching as Bill's face appeared on the monitor. "Why hello Bill."  
  
"It's been awhile professor. I wish we could chat, but this is kind of urgent."  
  
"What's the problem?" Oak said curiously.  
  
"I have reason to suspect there may be a new type of pokemon around Viridian City and Pallet Town."  
  
"That's bad news?"  
  
"This ones very deadly, and appears to be attacking people seemingly at random. I'm on my way down there, but I thought I should send warning ahead."  
  
"Thanks for the warning, I'll wait for your arrival." Bill nodded as the video phone went dark.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
He woke up the next morning groggily, raising his head wearily and looking around, struggling to remember everything until it finally came back to him. "Man I must have slept like a rock." He said, stretching. He heard Pikachu yawn beside him as he got out of his bed, already feeling a lot better than he had the night before.   
  
Before Ash could reach the door it opened on its own and Brock stepped in, carrying something in his hands. "Oh Ash, you're looking better already."  
  
"Uh yeah... How'd you get all the way to Pallet so fast? And what's that?" He looked down at the bag in Brock's hands.  
  
"Oh I just hurried." He stopped a moment to smile at Ash before pulling something out of the bag. "Just some of my special medicine, but it looks like you don't need it."  
  
"Yeah well thanks anyway."  
  
"Say, do you still have the needle you found in your back?"  
  
"Yeah, right here." Ash reached back to the nightstand and grabbed it, handing it to Brock.  
  
"Hmmm..." Brock examined it carefully for a few minutes. "I'm not sure this is a Weedle stinger."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's too long, and besides, Misty said neither of you saw it and I think you should have if it's missing a stinger."  
  
"Ah who cares anyway? It's gone and I'm fine." Brock just shrugged and handed the stinger back to Ash, who put it on the nightstand before heading out to the living room.  
  
Misty saw them enter and immediately got to her feet, glaring at Ash. "So you ARE still alive."  
  
Ash smirked at her and snapped back irritably. "I was only out for one night."  
  
"One night? Ash it's been two days." She said, causing the breath to catch in Ash's throat.   
  
"Two days!?" He exclaimed, looking back at Brock who just nodded his head. "Geeze, why didn't anyone wake me up?"  
  
"We tried you little bum!" Misty screeched, stalking up to him. "If you think for one minute I wasn't worried about you you're sadly mistaken!"  
  
"You were... worried about me?" Ash asked, staring at her curiously. She seemed to suddenly realize what she'd been saying and backed away a bit, becoming a little more demure.  
  
"Well yeah, you are my friend." She said softly, a bit too softly to Ash's ears.  
  
Before he could say anything his mom walked in, Mr. Mime following behind her. "Ah Ash, you're awake. Would you like something to eat?" His stomach started grumbling loudly at the mention of food, much to Ash's chagrin. "Ah I guess so. There's eggs in the dining room."   
  
"Thanks mom." Ash said, embarrassed as he followed her and the pokemon into the dining room to sit down and eat his breakfast. To his surprise Misty followed him and sat down at the table across from him. "Something wrong Misty?"  
  
"Oh, no. Just sitting down." She looked away from him quickly. Ash simply shrugged to himself and started eating, he'd never understand girls.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Bill walked up the small path to Professor Oaks laboratory, keeping a sharp eye on the forest around him. If the reports and rumors were true they'd need the best pokemon trainers they could find.  
  
He reached the small front door and knocked a few times, waiting only a minute before Professor Oak finally opened the door. "Hello there Bill."  
  
"Good morning Professor Oak. Mind if I come in?"  
  
"Not at all." Oak moved aside a bit to let Bill get inside the lab, turning towards him almost immediately.  
  
"Has anyone in Pallet Town been attacked?" Bill asked.  
  
"No not to my knowledge, everyone is accounted for and nobody has complained of a pokemon attack. Now tell me, what is this about a new species of pokemon?"  
  
"It's been sighted in Viridian City several times, but nobody can really describe it. All anyone knows about it is that it has sharp spines on its body that seem to mark its next pray."  
  
Professor Oak pondered this for a few minutes, putting one hand to his chin. "Peculiar, pokemon rarely attack humans."  
  
"I know, but this one does." Was all Bill could think to say, it WAS really strange that one would be attacking like this.  
  
"If someone is attacked, you'll definitely be the first to know." Professor Oak assured him, picking up a plate off the table. "Crouton?"  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ash walked along the little path, trying to look anywhere but at Misty beside him. He'd decided to take a little walk, get some exercise after sleeping for two days straight. Misty had insisted on joining him, being afraid he'd fall down and not be able to get up.  
  
He'd been thinking all day about various things that had been happening lately. Misty, that weird stinger, Misty... He just couldn't quite make sense of any of it.  
  
He looked down at Pikachu walking along to Ash's other side from Misty, looking around at the shrubbery on either side curiously. His ears were twitching furiously, which usually meant something wasn't quite right, but Ash was too preoccupied to take real notice, glancing at Misty before looking quickly away again.   
  
"Misty..." Ash began, looking down at his feet nervously. "You know you're... Really... Growing... And you're pretty."  
  
Misty looked over at him curiously. "What?"  
  
"I just mean you're kind of pretty, that's all." Ash said.  
  
"Well..." She was interrupted as a sudden shriek of warning erupted from Pikachu. They both look and see Pikachu diving to the side as something slammed into the ground where he'd been standing, burrowing into it and out of site within moments.  
  
"What was that!?" Ash yelled, running over to look into the hole. "Are you okay Pikachu?" Pikachu nodded affirmatively and looked around him cautiously.  
  
"It looked like a pokemon." Misty said, running up beside Ash to look in the hole in the ground.  
  
"Let's go tell Professor Oak about this, maybe he can tell us something." Pikachu and Misty nodded as Ash turned and headed for Professor Oaks lab. He could have sworn he could feel the ground underneath his feet shifting slightly as he walked, but it was probably just his nerves after being attacked.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ash knocked on the door a bit more urgently than he'd intended, prompting a response in about five seconds. "Hey professor."  
  
"Oh Ash. Is something wrong?" Oak asked as he let Ash, Misty and Pikachu into the lab.  
  
"Something attacked us on the street."  
  
"What was it!?" The question startled Ash as it came from behind him. He turned to see Bill already on his feet, studying Ash intently.  
  
"Why are you here?"  
  
"What attacked you?" Bill repeated urgently.  
  
"It was too fast, we couldn't see it." Misty said, coming up beside Ash. Bill sighed and slumped down onto the couch again.  
  
"What's going on Professor Oak?" Ash asked curiously.  
  
"Bill's here searching out some new species of pokemon that's been attacking victims seemingly at random." Oak said, walking over to sit on the couch beside Bill.  
  
"A pokemon that's attacking people?" Ash said incredulously.  
  
"It's quite true." Bill said as he got to his feet and walked toward Ash. "This thing has been for... Huh?" He stopped in his tracks as something on his belt buckle started beeping wildly.  
  
"What's that?" Misty asked.  
  
"A tracker, it's clued into the structure of this mystery pokemon thanks to the spines that have been found dislodged during attacks."  
  
"Spines?" Ash said worriedly, putting one hand to his back.  
  
"You don't think..." Misty began, also looking closely at Ash's back.  
  
"What's the matter Ash?" Professor Oak asked.  
  
"About two days ago something stuck a needle into my back and I passed out. We thought it was a Weedle, but now I'm not so sure."  
  
"It must have marked you, that's why you set off my tracker." Bill said as he reached down and de-activated it.  
  
"Well... Judging from the methods and such of these attacks, I think I might be able to tell you what it is." Professor Oak said, surprising the other three. He walked over and dug a book out of his desk, opening it. "It's a legendary, mythical pokemon. Nobody knows anything about it."  
  
"A legend? But legends aren't real." Ash said.  
  
"All legends are based on facts somewhat, after all, something had to have made people think of this stuff, even if they're not exact or often exaggerated." Bill said, walking over to read the book over Professor Oaks shoulder.  
  
Oak began reading the book out loud. "The Steel Serpent, a snake pokemon with a hard coat of steel covering its skin. It's highly venomous and lethal, also one of the most vicious pokemon known. It will mark its victim by injecting it with a paralyzing poison, often feeding on it as it sleeps. If it can't however, it will stalk its prey until it finally captures it."  
  
Ash gulps, becoming more worried by the second as he hears Professor Oak reading. "And h... He's coming after ME?"  
  
"Looks like it Ash." Misty said, smirking. "Show you to be more careful where you land."  
  
"Gee thanks." Ash replied sarcastically before turning back to the experts. "How do I get rid of it?"  
  
"Beat it in battle I'd assume." Professor Oak said, smiling slightly.  
  
"This isn't funny! This things trying to kill me!" Ash yelled frantically as a huge booming thud resounds through the room. They all look to see a sinuous form writhing inside the new entrance, staring directly at Ash. There were sword-like blades protruding from its back, curved towards its tail, which was itself covered in miniature blades aiming backwards. The things lifted its head and let out a piercing screech that sounded like a thousand nails on a chalkboard.  
  
Ash immediately turned and ran toward the front door. "Get it away!" He yelled as he bolted outside. Misty, Professor Oak, and Bill all dodged frantically to the side to avoid the thing as it passed by them, moving after Ash at an incredible speed.  
  
Ash pumped his legs as hard as he could away from the building, looking back just in time to see the serpent lunge out the door, leaping over much of the distance between them. He forced himself to run faster, almost in a pure panic. Suddenly he heard a familiar yell and turned back to see Pikachu lunging at the serpent.  
  
"Pikachu! Watch out!" He watched as the lightning began to build around the tiny mouse, sparking from his cheeks almost constantly. Before the lightning could strike however, the serpents tail straightened itself, the tip as sharp as a needle.   
  
"Pikachu!" Ash yelled as the lightning flared toward the serpent, and at the same time its tail thrust forward. Ash was blinded by the flash of the lightning so had to cover his eyes, but when he looked again the serpent was smoking and standing over Pikachu, who lied on the ground unconscious. "No!" The serpent turned to face him again, starting to advance again.  
  
"Watch out Ash!" Misty yelled, running to try to help him.  
  
"Agh!" Ash tried to run again, but the serpent struck in one lightning fast movement, wrapping itself tightly around him, squeezing him tightly. Ash yelled out in shock as he tumbled to his knees under its weight.  
  
Ash could only stare in horror as the pokemon opened its jaws, revealing the almost swordlike fangs hidden within them. Frantically Ash's fingers scraped against one of his pokeballs. He didn't know which one, but he was desperate. "Go!" He dropped it to the ground, where it opened in a ray of light.  
  
The Steel Serpents jaws moved towards Ash's head, but suddenly stopped as an orange claw clutched at its throat, yanking it away from Ash. Charizard let out a furious roar, the flames engulfing the serpents head as it screeched loudly, pulling away from both Ash and Charizard.  
  
Ash collapsed to the ground, suddenly freed from the serpents grip. He gasped for air and watched as Charizard and the serpent paced each other, each circling the other.   
  
Misty ran up to Ash, kneeling down beside him and putting a worried hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"  
  
"Fine..." He gasped out, watching the combatants study each other wearily.  
  
The serpent struck first, lunging at Charizard, but he took off from the ground, his wings carrying him up into the air and out of the serpents reach. He let out a stream of fire toward the ground, burning huge patches into the lush grass, but the serpent dodged the blasts sinuously, making its way over to Ash again.  
  
"Let's get out of here!" Misty exclaimed, pulling Ash to his feet before they took off running away from the serpent. They ran as fast as they could, the serpent steadily gaining on them as Charizards fire rained down upon it.   
  
Finally one blast slammed into the serpent full force, scorching the grass around it and heating the steel skin up almost instantly. The serpent stopped to look up at him, screeching warningly.  
  
Suddenly the serpent launched itself off the ground like a spring, slamming into Charizard, knocking him off kilter, and sending both of them slamming to the ground. Charizards roar of anger sounded through the air as the serpent wrapped its coils around him, the blades on its back slicing into him occasionally.   
  
"Charizard!" Ash exclaimed, taking a few harried steps towards the battle. Charizards roars were filled with anger and pain as the serpent squeezed tighter, opening its jaws again.  
  
"Ash look!" He looked quickly where Misty pointed to. Pikachu was back on its feet, holding its chest painfully as it staggered towards the battle.  
  
"Pikachu! Get away!" Ash yelled, but Pikachu ignored him and got closer before stopping, the electrical sparks flying from its cheeks sporadically. He let out a high pitched shriek as the energy discharged, flying into the serpent.   
  
Both the serpent and Charizard howled in pain as the lightning surged through both of their bodies. The serpents coils loosened until finally he came loose enough for Charizard to escape from them, moving quickly away from the battle, the wounds he'd suffered making his entire body droop slightly.  
  
Pikachu let out a small squeak of exhaustion as the energy dissipated and he fell to the ground, his eyes closed.   
  
"Pikachu!" Ash yelled as the serpent turned towards Ash, moving toward him again. Suddenly a huge stone head slammed into the serpents side with the force of a bullet train, slamming it into the ground, tossing up the dirt and grass all around and making a huge crater in the ground.  
  
Onix lifted its head again, looking down at the serpent, which was now lying still in the crater, its eyes closed.  
  
Brock ran up to Ash and Misty as fast as he could. "Are you guys alright!?" He asked quickly.  
  
"Yeah, thanks." Ash said as he walked over to pick up Pikachu, who looked absolutely exhausted. "I hate to think what would have happened if you hadn't showed up and blindsided it Brock." He said as he turned to look down at the serpent.  
  
"Don't worry about it." Brock replied as they all heard footsteps approaching. Bill ran up to them, practically hopping with excitement.  
  
"Yes, wonderful! This proves you're the perfect candidates!"  
  
"Candidates for what?" Ash asked curiously.  
  
"To join my new investigative team. You see, there are hundreds of legends revolving around pokemon, I want you three to investigate them and either verify, or disprove them."  
  
"You mean like detectives?" Misty asked.  
  
"Kind of like that." Bill agreed, nodding. "What do you say, will you do it?"  
  
"Oh definitely!" Ash exclaimed. He'd been searching for a reason to get away fro Pallet again. He loved his mother and all, but he loved adventuring even more.  
  
"Here we go again." Misty said, rolling her eyes a bit. Ash took no notice however, he was already anticipating grand adventures in far off places with never before discovered pokemon. It would be great to get out again, and he planned to enjoy absolutely every minute of it. 


	2. Legend Of The Darkeon

Poke Factor: The Legend of the Darkeon  
  
  
Ash looked up at the bright blue sky overhead, taking a deep breath of the cool mountain air as he, Misty and Brock walked along the dirt path towards their next adventure. Bill had decided to send them to investigate some local legend in a backwater town none of them really knew, something to do with an Eevee.  
  
"Think we're almost there?" Misty asked as she swiped a rag across her forehead to get the sweat of her brow.  
  
"Getting tired already Misty?" Ash asked, smirking to himself out of the corner of his mouth. "And I thought you were the fit one in this group."  
  
"For your information Ash I am the most fit! It's just been awhile since I've been on the road!"  
  
"Been awhile for me too!" Ash retorted.  
  
"Ah the good old days are back again." Brock said, smiling to himself and ignoring them as they argued with each other. They marched on with Ash and Misty teasing each other mercilessly, more so than Brock had ever seen. They'd obviously gotten closer than they had been the last time Brock had been with them, whether they knew it or not.  
  
Ash finally stopped arguing and just walked on in silence until they reached the town of Cyan. It was a small town nestled against the side of a mountain with n real distinguishing characteristics. The buildings looked like they were made of mud and clay, which Ash could only guess they might just be.  
  
"This is it huh?" Misty said, not looking very impressed by the small buildings that seemed to be made primarily out of mud.  
  
"I guess so." Ash said, a bit put off himself.  
  
"Ah it's better than some of the places we've stayed." Brock commented as he started down the trail to the town, Ash and Misty following behind him more slowly.  
  
As they approached the buildings didn't look any nicer, but the inside of them that they could see though the windows at least looked better than the outside, a lot more cozy.  
  
"Ash?" The three turned around startled, to see Officer Jenny staring at them in surprise, the Growlithe at her side staring at them watchfully.  
  
"Uh yeah, I'm Ash." He said, walking up to her. "And these are Misty and Brock."  
  
"Oh..." Officer Jenny seemed disoriented for a few minutes, before finally shaking her head clear and smiling a bit apologetically. "Sorry Ash, I must have gotten carried away with something."  
  
"How did you recognize him?" Brock asked suspiciously, glaring at her like an eagle. A surprising change from his normal drooling grin whenever he saw an Officer Jenny.  
  
Jenny seemed a bit surprised, but answered slowly. "My cousins step-sisters second-cousin described him to me." She said, smiling slightly in embarrassment. Brock still stared at her fiercely, not blinking at all.  
  
"Stare any harder Brock and you're gonna burn a hole in her shirt." Misty warned him quietly, trying to avoid letting Jenny know what she was saying.  
  
"Something's not right here." Brock said, looking around a bit, but his eyes invariably falling on Jenny again.  
  
"Well anyway why were we called out here?" Ash asked, trying to change the subject. "Something about an Eevee?"  
  
"Ah yeah, an old superstition around here. Come down to the station and I'll tell you about it when we get there." Jenny said, turning away from them and heading for the station, Growlithe walking along behind her.  
  
Discreetly Ash looked down at Pikachu. "Do you notice anything funny?" Pikachu simply shrugged its tiny shoulders, looking back at Togepi protectively, who was trailing on Mistys heels as she followed Officer Jenny.  
  
Ash finally shrugged to himself as well, following the other three before they left him behind.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
"It's an old legend, one nobody's ever been able to prove." Officer Jenny said, sitting back comfortably in the chair behind her desk, Brock, Misty and Ash each occupying chairs on the other side of the desk.  
  
"What's it about?" Ash asked curiously.  
  
"Well according to the legend, if someone used all of the evolution stones on Eevee at the same time it would evolve into one of the strongest pokemon alive, but nobody's ever wanted to risk hurting their Eevee over it." She said, sitting up a bit as she continued, as she'd been slowly sliding off the seat since she'd sat down. "Supposedly someone did try it, using all possible evolution stones on Eevee at the same time. It supposedly evolved the poor thing into what they call a Darkeon."  
  
"A Darkeon?" Misty asked.  
  
"Yeah, again, supposedly, it was driven insane by the power it gained from the evolution and turned on its master. Nobody ever saw him again. It's still out there to this day, prowling around, waiting to lash out again... Again though, it's only a legend." When she finished Ash and Misty were on the edge of their seats, staring at her intently, Brock still just staring at her with that strange look in his eye.  
  
"Well... How are we supposed to prove something like this?" Ash asked, looking a bit worried.  
  
"Well I assume we find this thing and bring it in." Misty said, smirking at him. "If you think you can beat it."  
  
"Of course I can!" Ash snapped immediately, standing up from the chair. "I'm Ash Ketchum! Pokemon master!"  
  
"Sure Ashy boy." Jenny said smiling, then noticed all three of the others staring at her strangely now. "Uh... Well... Maybe you'd like to get started in your search." She said, grinning and chuckling nervously.  
  
"How do we search for something that we don't even have any clue where it is or what it looks like?" Misty asked.  
  
"Beats me." Ash said thoughtfully. "We just had a long treck though, maybe we should rest and head out in the morning." He stretched his back a bit, his lower spine popping softly.  
  
"Good idea." Misty said, smiling down at Togepi, who'd already fallen asleep on the floor at her feet.  
  
"It's up to you from here on out then." Jenny said, standing up when she saw the others getting ready to leave.  
  
"You coming Brock?" Ash asked when he saw Brock still glaring at Jenny like a deranged madman.  
  
"Yeah I'm coming." Brock said, following them out the door of the station and walking with them towards the inn.  
  
"Seriously Brock, what's wrong with you?" Misty demanded a bit angrily. "You looked about to tear her shirt off or something."  
  
"It's not that, she reminds me of someone." Brock said thoughtfully.  
  
"Gee I wonder who..." Misty said, rolling her eyes sarcastically. "She's just like every Officer Jenny we've met."  
  
Brock simply shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe you're right." He said, refusing to comment further.  
  
They reached the inn and went inside, looking around at it. The inside was a lot cozier than the outside had been, the fireplace lighting everything up as the last rays of the sun outside sparkled though the window, making it seem to glitter faintly.  
  
Ash walked up to the counter. "Three rooms." He said as the clerk went through his little book. This was a lot more convenient than sleeping in the lobby of a pokecenter.  
  
"So what do we do tomorrow? We have no idea where we should start looking." Misty said.  
  
"Well maybe there's something on local legends in the library." Brock suggested.  
  
"No library in this town." The inn clerk said as he searched through the keys to the rooms. "Way too small a town for something like that."  
  
"Excuse me sir, but do you know anything about the legend of the Darkeon?" Ash asked. He was getting desperate for some lead to go on, as he wasn't too thrilled about the prospect of combing the forest randomly.  
  
"Yep. Old Mrs. Jackal was right there when her husband did it too." He said, finally getting the keys sorted out and handing one to each of them.  
  
"Wow thanks!" Ash exclaimed, turning to Misty. "See? Pays to just ask nicely. We can just ask her tomorrow and be done by lunch." Misty rolled her eyes at him and turned back to the clerk.  
  
"Where can we find her?" She asked.  
  
"Can't. She died five years ago." The clerk replied. Misty smirked at Ash as he sighed and lowered his head.  
  
"Thanks anyway." Misty told the clerk as the three of them headed into the back, Togepi and Pikachu following behind them. "Nice lead Ash, maybe we can hold a séance and ask her if it's true."  
  
"Can YOU come up with anything?" Ash retorted defensively.  
  
"I'm working on it." Misty snapped as they reached their rooms, each right beside the others with Misty in the middle. Brock just went in his room without a word, shutting the door behind him.  
  
"Geeze, what's wrong with him?" Ash asked, staring at Brocks door.  
  
"I don't know." Misty said a bit worriedly. "Well we'll figure everything out tomorrow I guess. Goodnight Ash."  
  
"Night Misty." Ash said as he went in his room, letting Pikachu scurry in before shutting the door. He could already tell this trip was going to be a nightmare if they had to search without anything to go by. Without any clues. There had to be something. A missing trainer, a dead wife, a pokemon nobody even knew whether it existed or not that could be absolutely anywhere or nowhere.  
  
"This is gonna be a long trip Pikachu." He said as he plopped into the bed, kicking his shoes to the floor and shrugging his denim jacket off wearily. Pikachu leapt onto the bed, chattering comfortingly as Ash pulled off his cap, setting it on the nightstand by the bed. Finally he managed to make himself drift off to sleep.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
A figure crept up to the window of the inn, trying to keep as quiet as she could, the Growlithe right behind her being as silent as she was. She peeked up over the windowsill cautiously. She could see Ash asleep on the bed, his breathing regular. "Suspicious for him to show up now eh?" She asked of her pokemon, getting an affirmative whimper in return. "I wonder though why he would be involved... He didn't seem like a bad person the last time I met him at..." She stopped talking immediately and ducked behind a bush as a window two windows down opened up.  
  
Brock stuck his head out, looking around cautiously. "Who's out there?" He asked softly of nothing in particular. After scanning the darkness for a few minutes, he finally pulled his head back inside, closing the window behind him.  
  
She sighed with relief, leaning her head against the wall. "We'll just have to keep an eye on them, see if they're hiding anything." With that she crept away from the inn again, slipping silently back into the darkness.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
The next morning Ash rubbed his eyes and stretched out, yawning hugely. "Well at least I won't die of lack of sleep." He said as he sat up, looking down at Pikachu curled up on the foot of the bed asleep. Wearily he reached down and grabbed his shoes, pulling them on before grabbing his jacket and cap. Being all dressed, he got up and headed out the door, deciding to let Pikachu sleep a little longer.  
  
He went into the lobby to see Misty already there, sitting on the couch with Togepi still asleep in her arms. It was still pretty early in the day, the sun still glowing a faintly orange color against the horizon, lighting up Mistys bright red hair like it was on fire.  
  
"Morning." She said kindly as Ash sat down on the couch beside her.  
  
"Morning..." He replied, putting a hand to his forehead. "Can you think of any place to start today?"  
  
"No, we don't have any clues as to where this thing might be." She said, watching as Ash sighed hugely. "Aw cheer up, we'll find something."  
  
"Maybe, we're gonna have to comb the whole forest to have a chance of finding anything at all." He said, sighing again and looking over at her. "Least we'll get plenty of exercise."   
  
Misty giggled a bit, smiling back at him. "Yeah you could use it." He smiled back at her as they both just sat there companionably, staring out the glass window in the door as the sun slowly rose above the horizon, the light becoming more intense as it rose higher.  
  
After about an hour of just sitting in friendly silence Brock walked into the lobby, Pikachu bounding along behind him before running up to join Ash on the couch.  
  
"Ready to go?" Brock asked as he approached the couch.  
  
"Go where?" Ash asked, looking up at him.  
  
"The pokecenter. I figure if anyone has information on weird pokemon occurrences it's probably them."  
  
"As good a place to start as any." Misty said, standing up as she cradled Togepi in her arms.  
  
"Let's go then." Ash said a bit sheepishly as he stood up with them. Such an obviously place to go for information on pokemon and he hadn't thought of it. Some investigator he was turning out to be.  
  
They all headed out of the inn and walked towards the pokecenter in the middle of town. The sun rising slowly overhead as they walked along the dirt sidewalks of the small town, an occasional kid running past or somebody running an errand, but otherwise it was really pretty calm.  
  
They went inside the pokecenter and walked up to the front desk, where Nurse Joy was reading a fashion magazine. She looked up at them as they approached. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Do you have any legend books or anything we can go through?" Ash asked.  
  
"There are dozens of pokemon reference books in the back if you want to take a look." She said, setting a bookmark in the magazine before standing up.  
  
"That'd be great." Misty replied as they all followed into the back of the pokecenter. The room the led them to was a good sized room, filled almost to the ceiling with magazines and books and pamphlets on pokemon habits and evolutions. Ash, Misty and Brock stared at the pile with dreading gazes.  
  
"All this?" Ash asked, his spirits sinking lower than ever.  
  
"Have fun." Nurse Joy said cheerily, leaving them to their reading.  
  
"Right... Thanks..." Brock said, staring at a particularly high stack to his right.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Hours later, Ash was about ready to fall asleep staring at the history book he'd fished out of the monumental pile of literature. He hadn't found one single reference to the legend in any of the books he'd gone through, Pikachu and Togepi were both fast asleep in the center of the room, snoring loudly.  
  
"There's gotta be something..." Misty sighed out, stretching her back out after sitting too long.  
  
Brock yawned deelpy, reaching his arms above his head to stretch as far as he can. "Look I think I found something..." He said a bit drolly, not really getting what he was saying. Ash and Misty both came to attention however.  
  
"What!?" They said simultaneously before rushing over to his side to look in the book.  
  
Ash takes the book from him, reading it. "The Darkeon was created by using all three evolutionary stones on an Eevee at the same time. The oversurge of power drove it insane, causing it to destroy its own master. It prowls at night around the area of Mr. Jackals house, where it was originally evolved."  
  
"We have a starting point!" Misty exclaimed excitedly. "Now if only we knew where that place was we'd be all set." She commented, calming down.  
  
"Let's go ask Nurse Joy." Ash said, grabbing the book and heading out to the main lobby of the pokecenter. "She has to know something at least." They approached the main desk again, Nurse Joy looking up at them.  
  
"Find what you were looking for?"  
  
"Yeah, do you know where a Mr. Jackals house is?" Ash asked.  
  
"Old Mr. Jackson? Sure, it's by the edge of town on the east side, you can't miss it." Joy replied.  
  
"Thank you ever so much." Brock said before Ash and Misty could say anything, grabbing her hand and kissing it like a gentleman.  
  
"Come on loverboy." Misty said, grabbing his arm and dragging him with her as she followed Ash out the door. They turned and headed for the edge of town, searching for the right house.  
  
After ten minutes Brock stopped suddenly. "I have to take care of something." He said, quickly walking off in another direction before the other two could say a word.  
  
"He's been acting really weird lately." Ash commented, staring after him.  
  
"Yeah well the sooner we get to this place the sooner we can get finished searching." Misty said as she picked up the pace again, eager to get back to Pallet Town.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Brock rounded the corner, looking around him curiously. He could have sworn he'd seen Officer Jenny tailing them, but she didn't seem to be anywhere now. Something was very suspiciously familiar about her, and he didn't think it was because she was a Jenny.  
  
He caught a glimpse of a green ponytail disappearing into the police station, so he quickly ran up to try to investigate, see what she was hiding. He ran inside the building after her, throwing caution to the wind in his curiosity. Then finally when he reached the main lobby of the police station his suspicions were all confirmed...  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ash looked around the run down and very dangerous looking building with a growing sense of dismay. It would be impossible to find anything in this rubble. It would take them weeks just to dig it out enough to START looking.  
  
"I say we go home and forget we ever accepted Bills offer." Misty said exasperated, holding Togepi to her. "Who knew investigating legends would be so much work and so boring?"  
  
"We might as well start digging... Huh?" something caught in the corner of his eye, a glimmer of something he almost recognized. "What was..." He immediately gave chase, ignoring Mistys shouts behind him as he pursued the form through the foliage of the forest.  
  
Finally he reached a small clearing in the forest, big enough for an Onix to spread from tail to nose in any given direction. There perched on a small boulder was a faintly glimmering pokemon, staring at him curiously rather than looking afraid.  
  
"What is it?" Misty asked, running up beside him as Ash whipped out his pokedex, pointing it at the thing.  
  
The familiar beep preceded the information Ash sought. "Espeon, the sunlight pokemon. This evolution of Eevee will prowl during the day, using the suns energy as a power source. It will shed away from darkness, as the absence of light can be deadly to it. Because of this, these pokemon are extremely rare in the wild and depend on trainers to keep their homes well lit."  
  
"Another Eevee evolution? But I thought there were only three?" Misty mused, staring at the picture on the pokedex's small screen, then up at the pokemon.  
  
"Huh..." Was all Ash could say, staring at the screen dumbfoundedly. "Four Eevee evolutions? Wonder how many others there are that we don't know about." He mused to himself quietly.  
  
They both watched a bit surprise as the Espeon looked up at the sky, then took off running towards the town. They both looked to see the sun going down behind the horizon.  
  
"We wasted too much time reading those books earlier." Misty commented, smirking. "We should get back before it gets dark."  
  
"Right." Ash said, heading back towards the house. They were halfway there when they heard a faint rustling in the leaves, causing Pikachu to leap in front of Ash, small jolts of energy sparking from its cheeks.  
  
Looking up, Ash noticed it was now almost completely dark, night was closing in fast. "Lets hurry up." He said, getting no argument from Misty or Pikachu.  
  
They quickened their pace, not bothering to mask their footsteps as they jogged through the forest, reaching the cottage just as the darkness closed around them.  
  
Pikachu gave a startled cry behind Ash, its discharge lighting up the field almost like daylight. Ash whirled to see a dark fox-like shape dodging the jolt, heading straight for Pikachu.  
  
"Watch out Pikachu!" Ash yelled as Pikachu leapt out of the things way just in time to avoid its jaws, which closed around air. "Lets do it! Charizard, go!" He threw his pokeball, which opened in a beam of spectacular white light, Charizard materializing on the ground in front of him, its tail flame lighting up the surrounding darkness.  
  
"Staryu! Help him out!" Misty shouted, throwing her own pokeball. Staryu materialized in front of her, the red ruby glowing on its chest in the darkness.  
  
Charizard let out a mighty roar that echoed through the darkness before firing one stream of fire in the Darkeons direction. It dodged quickly to the side, its dark form seeming to pulsate and change in the little light given off by the moon and Charizards tail.  
  
To Ash's surprise the thing let out a mighty howl, a blast of pressured water slamming into Charizards chest, sending it flying backwards to the ground, howling with pain and rage. "Charizard!" Ash yelled, running over to check on it.  
  
"Okay Staryu, your turn! Use your psychic power!" Misty yelled at her pokemon as it lunged itself forward, the red ruby in its chest glittering brightly. Blue psychic energy emanated from its body, flying at the Darkeon.  
  
Misty yelled in surprise at the thing shrugged off the attack and began to pulsate again, seeming to change its form, a mere shadow changing amid a sea of shadows. A streak of lightning accompanied its next howl, striking Staryu with enough force to send it flying against the wall of the cabin, sending it straight through the frail wall into the building itself.   
  
"Staryu!" Misty yelled in concern, looking after it worriedly.  
  
"What's going on here!?" Ash screamed, staring at the dark figure in the shadows. "Okay lightning and water." Ash said, standing up. "Bulbasaur, it's up to you!" He threw another pokeball, Bulbasaur appearing in another flash of brilliant white light, the twin whips protruding from its bulb almost immediately. "Okay Bulbasaur, strike from a distance! Don't give it a chance to attack!"  
  
Bulbasaur let out a low growl as its whips began moving rhythmically, flinging stiff, bladed leaves at the Darkeon, which already appeared to be shifting again in the darkness. Just before the first leaf struck it the thing opened it mouth, letting out a huge blast of fire, disintegrating every leaf it came into contact with and striking Bulbasaur, sending him flying back against Ash, who was ready to catch it.  
  
"Three types!? It's not possible!" Misty yelled, calling her Staryu back into its pokeball.  
  
"I think we need to get out of here..." Ash said, calling back Charizard and Bulbasaur.  
  
"I don't think it's gonna let us..." Misty said, her voice shaking a bit as the Darkeon approached them slowly, a growl coming from deep within its throat. They both started backing away, Pikachu leaping in front of Ash protectively.  
  
"Get back Pikachu!" Ash yelled as the Darkeon lunged again.  
  
"Transform!" A voice came out of the darkness as a shape bounding into view, slamming into the Darkeon and sending it away from Pikachu. The figure that had saved them looked almost exactly like the Darkeon.  
  
"Two Darkeons?" Ash and Misty said confusedly, looking back to see Brock and Officer Jenny running up to join them.  
  
"Not quite Ashy boy!" Jenny shouted, taking off the cap and blue contacts, revealing a much younger looking face.  
  
"Duplica!" Ash cried, gaping at her.  
  
"Let's get out of here while the things distracted! Ditto may have its attacks, but it's still outmatched by that thing a hundred to one!" Duplica yelled urgently, spurring Ash and Misty into following her and Brock back to the inn, Ditto running along behind them, keeping a sharp eye out for the Darkeon.  
  
They managed to make it back to the inn without incident, all of them collapsing onto the couches and gasping for air almost immediately.  
  
"Are you guys okay?" Brock asked, looking at Ash and Misty.  
  
"We're fine, but we need to get to the pokecenter the next chance we get." Ash said.  
  
"We should wait until morning, maybe it won't be out then. We don't want to run into it again." Duplica said, watching as Ditto transformed back into the purple gelatinous form that was its own.  
  
Misty stared at her curiously, finally asking the question Ash himself had been thinking almost the whole time. "What are you doing here Duplica?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, I was training to be a police officer, thought I could use my talents better as an undercover cop than a performer. Nobody ever knew it was me until Brock came into town."  
  
Brock smiled a bit. "Can't fool my Jenny-sense."  
  
"Great, so what do we do about this Darkeon thing out there?" Ash asked dryly. They all sat quietly for awhile pondering that question until Misty started smiling a bit dreamily to herself. "Something wrong Misty?"  
  
"Huh? Oh no, sorry. Just thinking about that Espeon. Seems like a complete opposite of this thing that's hunting us." She replied.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"It could have come in and gotten us by now if it REALLY wanted to, maybe it fears the light like the other one fears the darkness?" Brock perked up suddenly, exclaiming in astonishment.  
  
"I think I figured it out! Recently they found two more Eevee evolutions. Well they said he conducted his experiments at night so nobody would know about them. That means he got four of the five evolutions, that must be why Eevee lost it!"  
  
"So what do we do? Force it to evolve into the fifth form too?" Ash asked curiously.  
  
"Do we REALLY want to make it even stronger?" Misty said a bit annoyed.  
  
"Well I'd think if its evolution was finished it would become sane again." Brock said.  
  
"But what if it doesn't? It could just continue rampaging with even more power than it already has." Misty commented.  
  
"Can you think of any other way to get rid of it?" Brock asked, only to be greeted by silence.  
  
"Okay so now the question is how." Duplica said.  
  
"Well it evolves into Umbreon with darkness right?" Brock asked, receiving only blank stares from the rest of them. "Right?"  
  
"We don't know, we've never heard of the thing." Ash said.  
  
"Well it does!" Brock snapped, annoyed. "Point is, if we lure it into the light and keep it their long enough it might be enough to evolve its already excited body into the last form, whatever it may be."  
  
"How do we force it to stay in the light when it can take out all of our pokemon?" Ash asked sensibly.  
  
"We'll just have to go out there and wing it." Duplica said, standing up. "Well it's almost time for the sun to rise, we should get going and find it before it gets away."  
  
"Alright." Ash said, standing up with her. "Ready Pikachu?" The mouse squeaked a little bit in affirmative response.  
  
"Let's go get that thing." Brock said, standing up with them.  
  
Misty sighed a bit, standing up more reluctantly than the others. "Alright let's go." She said, trudging herself along after the others, who were practically sprinting eagerly out the door.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ash walked along the dark street, Misty, Brock and Duplica behind him. They all scanned the darkness for the Darkeon they knew was watching them from somewhere. They'd worked for awhile coming up with a plan, but none of them was at all sure it would work. They hadn't had that much time to discuss it.  
  
"There it is!" Misty yelled, pointing and backing away slowly. The rest looked to see a shape darker than the surrounding shadows detach itself from them and stalk towards them slowly, a low snarl could be heard coming from it.  
  
"Ready Brock?" Ash asked, taking one step forward.  
  
"Yes. Vulpix, go!" He threw a pokeball into the darkness, the light shining from inside momentarily lighting everything up before the Vulpix appeared in front of him. "Now Vulpix, Fire Spin!"   
  
The tiny fox opened its mouth, the flames pouring out immediately. They surrounded the Darkeon in the random myriad of patters, burning wherever they touched. It let out a howl of rage as its form began to shift, its outline settling into the vague outline of a Vaporeon.  
  
"Do it now Pikachu!" Ash yelled.  
  
The energy began to build around the mouse, randomly lightning up the darkness around it. The energy discharged just as a watery blast from the Darkeon began to streak towards Vulpix. The lightning struck with full force, flowing through the dark pokemons body and throwing it back away from them all, sending it slamming into the ground hard where it lie still as the flames from Vulpix's attack died down  
  
"We did it!" Ash exclaimed, sticking out his chest proudly.  
  
"Great!" Misty shouted before looking over at the horizon curiously. "Huh?"  
  
"The sun." Duplica said, looking as well as the dawn greeted them.  
  
"Hey wait!" Brock yelled, calling the others attention back to the Darkeon, who was bolting away from them rapidly. "Someone stop it before it gets away!" They all began to give chase, Pikachu and Vulpix quickly outdistancing their masters, but they were still no match for the Darkeons speed.  
  
"Now Ditto!" Duplica yelled ahead as the Darkeon neared a low bush by the street. The bush moved on its own, lunging to tackle the Darkeon as it reverted for back to its semi-liquid state, covering it. "That's it! You got it! Just hold onto it until the sun rises!"  
  
Ditto howled in pain as the energy from its opponent tore through it, but still it hung on clinging to it, quite literally, like glue. The Darkeon howled in rage, all of its energy flowing through it in its desperation to get away as the sun slowly began to rise higher, the first rays showing in the sky.  
  
"Oh, Ditto!" Duplica yelled in concern as her pokemons body began to lose its cohesion because of the Darkeons constant assault until finally it was flung off of the dark pokemon, landing in the street like a huddled mass of purple pudding. "Ditto!" Duplica ran over to it, kneeling down to try to pick it up, but it slipped through her fingers. "I'll get you help soon... You did good." She said softly as she called it back into its pokeball just as the first rays of the sun struck them all.  
  
The Darkeon howled in hateful rage as the suns rays struck its body, flowing through it like blood vessels. Ash gaped in awe as its eyes seemed to glow with a brilliant white light, the rest of its body soon covered in a similar light.  
  
"It's evolving..." Misty stated simply as the thing began to change shape, becoming a bit larger and infinitely more ornate. When the light died down it was about as big as Brock was tall, staring at Duplica calmly. Its body looked almost like a mirror, highly polished to a seemingly limitless shine.  
  
With one shaky hand Ash reached for his pokedex, pointing it at the thing. "Pokemon, unknown."  
  
"What do we do?" Misty asked, watching the thing with one weary eye. "Why's it staring at Duplica like that?"  
  
"Huh?" Duplica stood up now, turning to face the thing as it slowly walked toward her, not looking particularly menacing anymore. She took a step back in surprise at it nuzzled her cheek with its head, crooning softly.  
  
"Ah, it thinks she's its master." Brock said. "Because it was her pokemon that triggered its evolution. It's grateful to her."  
  
Duplica finally forced herself to smile, reaching out one hand to pet its shiny head. "It's so smooth." She commented, reaching into her belt for an empty pokeball. The thing put up no fight as she opened the ball and it was drawn inside in a brilliant beam of light.   
  
"Wow, wait until we tell Bill about this. You actually captured a... Uh... What are you going to call it?" Ash asked.  
  
"Hey yeah, there isn't even a name for that species of pokemon." Misty added.  
  
"Hmmm..." Duplica said, staring at the pokeball intently. "Silveon." She said finally, smiling to herself.  
  
"Well will you bring it back to Pallet Town?" Ash asked her politely. "Bill would love to see it, there's a lot of research to be done on new pokemon."  
  
"I think I will Ashy boy, in fact, I think I'll join you." She said, grinning at the surprised looks the others gave her. "After all, how many chances does a person get to capture a pokemon nobody knew existed? Not to mention I could do you some good, going undercover and stuff."  
  
"Well we'll see about all that." Misty said, frowning to herself.  
  
"Ah don't be such a worrier Misty." Ash said.  
  
"I'm not worried, I'm just not sure it's smart to bring someone else into our little team here!"  
  
"Ah you're jealous!"  
  
"J... Jealous!?" Misty demanded, a bit more vehemently and fearfully than she'd planned. "Jealous of what!?"  
  
"Jealous that Duplica captured Silveon and you didn't."  
  
Misty couldn't help a small sigh of relief before retorting. "No way, I wouldn't want it anyway, it's not a water pokemon!"  
  
Duplica turned to Brock a bit amusedly. "Did I join at a bad time?"  
  
"It's always a bad time with those two." Brock commented, smirking as they watched Ash and Misty continue to battle it out among themselves.  
  
THE END 


	3. The Wrath Of MewTwo

Poke-Factor 3: The Wrath Of MewTwo  
  
  
He walked calmly through the forest, the pale moon overhead the only thing lighting his path, not that he needed light. He could feel every pokemon on his island, hear their thoughts and feelings as clearly as his own. He had no place to call his home, but here, he had a place he could make himself and the other pokemon created in his lab as happy as he'd never thought. All thanks to his own genetic match.  
  
MewTwo liked living here on his island, away from the humans who had created him. The only living creatures he saw were pokemon, and MewTwo himself created all those. Little happened on the island that he didn't know about. If any pokemon on the island knew about it, he knew about it. His psychic link with his creations was strong enough to span countless miles, but none stronger than the link he shared with Mew.  
  
He always considered it a great irony that he was so far superior in every way, but still Mew seemed to know more about just about everything. He could only guess that Mews age gave him experiences he couldn't hope to match.  
  
He was content here, in his own little world outside of the influence of the humans. It was actually a small island as yet undiscovered by the humans, but if he had his way, they never would discover it...  
  
Suddenly his body convulsed slightly, the only external evidence of this being a slight twitch in his eyebrow. His psychic link was activating fiercely, something was happening with Mew, he was crying for him.  
  
Immediately blue energy surrounded MewTwo as he raced through the forest towards Mews psychic cries, throwing trees and pokemon alike out of his way in his hurry to come to Mews aid. Suddenly the cries stopped, the link going completely silent. This could mean Mew was unconscious or...  
  
MewTwo continued towards the last place he'd felt Mew, only to find nothing there. No trace of him remained except a faint residue of his power being used. A more thorough and speedy search of the whole island wielded similar results, Mew was gone without a trace.   
  
MewTwos furious cry rang silently throughout the entire planet, every pokemon hearing it clearly, and every one of them curling in upon itself at the unbridled anger in that voice.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ash walked along the narrow dirt path that wound its way through Professor Oaks pokemon preserve. The professor had asked Ash and the others to make sure everything was in order, but Brock and Duplica had immediately made themselves scarce, sticking Ash and Misty with the job. Ash couldn't help but smirk at this, and they had the nerve to call HIM lazy.  
  
Aw well might as well enjoy it, he thought as he walked along under the slowly fading light of the almost velvet sunset. It was looking to be a beautiful night tonight, and he would still be home in time for a nice long sleep before the morning.   
  
He hoped so anyway, he hadn't been getting much sleep recently with Pikachu frantically running around the room and clawing at everything. If Ash didn't know better he'd almost think Pikachu had gone wild, but he still stayed beside Ash during the day, albeit nervously.  
  
Actually, Misty told him she had been having the same problem with Togepi. The little egg pokemon had kept wailing non-stop throughout the night and would not be quiet no matter what she did. It was only semi-silent when it was in Misty's arms and she was awake. Something was going on with all the pokemon... But what?  
  
"You look like you're pretty deep in thought." Misty commented beside him, startling him out of his little bout of musing he probably wouldn't be able to start again.  
  
"I was." Ash said a bit bitingly, probably more so than he'd intended.  
  
"Jeese sorry. I didn't know you'd be so testy if I just tried to start a conversation." Misty said, smirking at him a bit angrily.  
  
"Sorry..." Ash grumbled, not really wanting to admit defeat, but knowing from long traveling hours of experience that arguing was useless.  
  
"What? Did I just hear an apology? Oh happy day!" Misty yelled, jumping girlishly into the air repeatedly. "I finally got you trained!" She said, grinning at him widely.  
  
Ash just smirked back at her, not really all that amused. "Please Misty, I'm just trying to figure out what's wrong with the pokemon." He said just before a Mankey swung down in front of them, slamming one fist right into Ash's face. "ARGH!"  
  
"Ash!" Misty exclaimed in surprise as the pokemon darted back into the trees, already long gone. "Are you okay? That looked like a hard punch."  
  
"I'm fine..." He grumbled just as the little gadget on his belt started beeping. "Hm?"  
  
"It's Bill." Misty said as her own little thing started beeping. They really had to ask Bill to give it a name eventually. For now though they were just supposed to head to Professor Oaks whenever it went off.  
  
So the turned back on the path and headed along quickly to Professor Oaks laboratory, Pikachu seeming to get more and more frantic as they walked, urging them to speed up until finally it took off ahead of them, leaving them behind totally.  
  
"Wait up Pikachu!" Ash yelled, running after the little mouse. Misty ran faster as well and they shortly reached the main laboratory. Inside they found Bill, Professor Oak, Brock and Duplica already waiting for them.  
  
"Well look who has energy after all." Misty said, smirking as she saw the last two.  
  
"This is no time for squabbling." Professor Oak chided her, gesturing to the videophone on his wall. The little screen depicted a ruined wall with a gaping hole in it, revealing the outside of that building to be no different. Buildings were demolished and there were lifeless human and pokemon bodies scattered around the area.  
  
"Oh no..." Misty breathed, almost inaudible even though everyone in the room was deathly silent as the image on the little screen remained unchanging, as still as the little figures showing through on it.  
  
"What happened?" Ash asked, speaking softly. The horror of the things on the screen almost overwhelmed him.  
  
"We received a call from Officer Jenny of Pewter City ten minutes ago." Bill explained. "She was frantic about some kind of pokemon attack, then something blocked the transmission, after that the image finally came back as you now see it."  
  
"That's Pewter City!?" Brock exclaimed in shock. His entire family had been living there.  
  
"I don't think you need to be told what you're supposed to do here." Bill said gravely, no smile cracking his face at his own joke.  
  
"Right, we're going right away." Ash said without hesitation, Misty and Duplica nodding beside him determinedly. Brock looked the most adamant as he simply turned and left the room, heading outside of the laboratory. The other three followed behind him, catching up with him out front.  
  
"We need to move fast." Ash said, reaching for a pokeball. "Charizard, we need your wings." He shouted, throwing the ball. The dragon like pokemon appeared in a brilliant flash of light, letting out a tremendous roar as it stretched out its wings to their fullest extent.  
  
"Ditto, transform." Duplica said to the little purple puddle beside her. Ditto's body began to shift immediately, rearranging itself into a solid configuration, that of Ash's Charizard. They all climbed on the two winged pokemon, Ash and Misty on Ash's Charizard, Duplica and Brock on Ditto.  
  
They took off at the same time, flying across the now fully night sky steadily, the soft glow of the moon the only way they could really see anything below them. Ash watched below him as all of the mountain tops and lakes seemed to glow from the light. The view was spectacular, but they couldn't afford to gawk right now, this was urgent.  
  
They soared over Viridian City, passing it by almost instantly in their rush to make it to the next town over. Ash couldn't help but glance over at Brock, who was simply looking ahead trying to spot any sign of his hometown.  
  
"There it is!" Misty yelled from right behind Ash, pointing ahead of them. Out of the darkness they could see several raging fires illuminating the rubble surrounding them, as they'd seen on the video phone, Pewter City was in ruins.   
  
The two Charizards circled above the town as they slowly descended to the ground, landing with soft thuds just outside the city boundaries. Ditto reverted back to its natural form as Ash called Charizard back into its pokeball.  
  
"What could have possible done this?" Duplica asked in awe as they headed into the town, Brock looking downright anxious about everything. What little light they had was the moonlight that didn't really help too much.  
  
"Ash! Look!" Misty yelled, pointing at the darkness frantically. Two deep blue flashes seemed to illuminate a whitish face that looked almost human, but not quite. The flashes seemed to be coming from its eyes.  
  
Before anyone else could say anything a deep voice rang through their minds. [Ash] It said, causing all of them to look around in confusion.  
  
"What was that?" Duplica asked, looking around suspiciously.  
  
"I think it's that thing." Brock said, facing the figure in the darkness.  
  
"How do you know my name?" Ash demanded, stepping forward with courage he certainly didn't feel. "Why are you doing this?"  
  
[I am MewTwo] The voice in their minds said, ringing clear as a bell. [I am looking for someone]  
  
"Looking for someone!?" Ash exclaimed angrily. "Why is all this necessary!? All you had to do was ask someone for help!"  
  
The voice in their minds burst suddenly into a mirthful chuckle, the figure in the shadows seeming to chuckle as well. [If it's beyond me to find him, it's far beyond a human] It said. [You helped me once, so you will be spared. But until I find Mew nothing will be safe]  
  
"Mew..." Ash said thoughtfully, something coming back to him, as though some veil were being lifted out of his mind. Finally he remembered everything that had happened. "Mew's missing?" He asked curiously. How could someone not only steal something, but hide something from the world strongest pokemon? "This isn't the way... You're only going to get yourself destroyed like this!"  
  
[No humans could destroy me] MewTwo retorted, its eyes narrowing dangerously.  
  
"You're not invincible, they will find a way if you keep this up! Give me a chance at least! I'll find Mew no matter what it takes! You have nothing to lose and a friend to gain." Ash said sensibly, staring MewTwo down as solidly as he could possibly manage.  
  
[Very well, you have two days time to find Mew. After that, I will find him myself] MewTwo said, raising one hand as a dark blue glow surrounded it. Misty was suddenly hefted into the air, shrieking in surprise.  
  
"Misty!" Ash cried, leaping after her, but he was suddenly stopped in thin air like he'd run right into an invisible wall. "You don't have to do this MewTwo! I'll fine Mew! I want to help you!" Ash yelled, still trying to make his body move.  
  
[If you cannot find Mew in two days, she will be the first to feel my wrath] MewTwo replied, looking up at Misty still suspended above the ground. Slowly a blue light seemed to surround both of them.  
  
"Ash! Get me out of here!" Misty shrieked fearfully just before both her and MewTwo vanished in a surge of pure psychic energy.  
  
"MISTY!" Ash screamed at the top of his lungs, lunging forward finally, but he was far too late. He sunk slowly to his knees as he looked around at the destruction around him. Togepi just looked around confusedly, not quite getting what had happened to its master. "Misty..." Ash said. How was he supposed to find something a creature with so much power couldn't even find?  
  
"Ash..." Duplica said softly, walking up behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, you always do what you set out to do, it's one thing nobody can not admire you for."  
  
"I don't even know where to begin..." Ash said, practically growing frantic. "I don't have anything to go on except my promise... I can't even try to keep it..." He dropped to his hand and knees, tears stinging his eyes. "I can't do anything..."  
  
"You already have done something Ash, you gave people time to prepare at least... You were right, he's not invincible, nothing is." Duplica said comfortingly.  
  
"But Misty..." He said as the tears slipped through his clenched eyelids. "He's gonna... Kill her first." He couldn't help but start sobbing a bit.  
  
"Well then you just have to save her by finding Mew." Duplica said simply, as though he just had to find a needle in a haystack. That would be easy compared to this.  
  
"I CAN'T" Ash shrieked angrily, whirling on her furiously. "If I could I'd be gone already but..." Pikachu, who started chattering and pulling at his belt frantically, interrupted him suddenly. "What?" He watched curiously as Pikachu yanked a pokeball off his belt and opened it, summoning Charizard.  
  
"What's Pikachu doing?" Duplica asked, watching this in total confusion.  
  
"The pokemon... They've been acting strange for days..." Ash said, coming to a sudden realization. "Your strange behavior and Mews kidnapping are related aren't they Pikachu?" Pikachu warbled affirmatively. "You know where I can find Mew!?" Ash exclaimed hopefully. Pikachu simply stroked its chin and shrugged its shoulders at that, but indicated Charizard anyway. "What?"  
  
"I think he wants you to go with them." Duplica said, evoking another affirmative squeak from Pikachu.  
  
"Well if there's the slightest chance, I'll do it!" Ash exclaimed, walking up to Charizard, who was already knelt on the ground and waiting for him. "Duplica, you and Brock coming?" He aid, suddenly realizing Brock's not anywhere in sight. "Where is Brock?"  
  
"He went to find his house..." Duplica said, looking down slightly. "Good luck Ash, I'll expect to see Misty back safe and sound by morning."  
  
"Right." Ash said, trying to stay atop Charizard, who was shuffling and twitching with pent up energy and anxiety. "Let's go Charizard! Take me where you will!" Charizard let out a mighty roar as he shoved off of the ground, flapping its wings mightily, carrying them into the sky rapidly. The dark night didn't seem to bother the winged lizard, who flew as straight as an arrow to their destination across the ocean.  
  
Ash watched almost in awe as an island hove into view, nearly three times bigger than Cinnabar Island, yet he'd never known it'd existed. Either nobody had ever bothered to come up this way before, or MewTwo had literally raised and cloaked this island on his own.  
  
A loud chattering from Pikachu told Ash they were nearing their destination, a small clearing right near the shore of the island. He watched a bit in awe as they neared, the island seeming to grow even bigger the nearer they got, and not just by getting closer either. The entire place seemed to be shifting with power.  
  
"Where is this?" Ash asked as Charizard made a perfect landing in the middle of the clearing. He climbed off slowly and looked around. It was just a moderately sized clearing, nothing special about it.  
  
"This is where the Mew disappeared" Ash whirled in surprise, thinking MewTwo had followed him. Instead all he saw was a little greenish glow flitting quickly through the darkness, a tiny figure illuminated by the light of Charizards tail flame. It floated above the ground at Ash's head level.  
  
"Who are you?" Ash asked.  
  
"I am the keeper of time." The tiny, almost squeaky voice said. "Also known as Celebi"  
  
"Keeper of time?" Ash asked, staring at the little thing doubtfully. "You look like a fairy."  
  
The tiny thing chuckled merrily at this, grinning at Ash almost bashfully. "I do don't I? But there's no time for me to convince you of this, time is of the essence."  
  
"That was corny." Ash remarked dryly. "Listen, I have to find where Mew is now not where he disappeared from."  
  
"What makes you think the question is where?" The fairy asked, smiling at him slyly. "If it was simply a matter of where, MewTwo would have found him by now."  
  
"What are you getting at?" Ash demanded irritably.  
  
"Allow me to explain..." The tiny thing said. "I was here looking for something to do when I was jumped by Mew. He thought I was a bug or something and wanted to play. So we played until he got caught in a time ripple caused by my very presence."  
  
"Mew was sent through time?" Ash asked incredulously. This was just too much.  
  
"He was sent to the future." She finished.  
  
"Wait, why don't you just wait however far ahead he went and send him back here when you get there?"  
  
"It doesn't work like that." She said, smirking. "I exist in all points of time simultaneously, I can't overlap myself by going through time to when I'm already there." Upon noting Ash's thoroughly confused look she gave up on the explanation. "I'll put it this way, I can send you, but I can't go personally under the current circumstances."  
  
"Okay... So how do I get back when I find Mew?"  
  
"Find me." Celebi said matter of factly. "I exist in all points of time simultaneously, while I'm here, there's another Celebi two weeks from now."  
  
Ash nodded a bit, looking over at Charizard idly. "Do you have any idea where he'd be?"  
  
"Celebi should be able to help you when you get there... Well not I Celebi but the Celebi then..." She smirked at his thoroughly lost look. "Just go!" She said in exasperation, raising her hands as they begin to glow with a pure green energy.   
  
Ash gasped a bit in shock as the world around him began to twist and turn, warping and reshaping itself. When it finally ended he was standing in the same field, but it was now brighter than it had been, like he'd arrived on a very cloudy day.  
  
Indeed, looking up, he saw that's exactly what had happened. The entire sky was covered in clouds, letting hardly any sun at all through the thick blanket.   
  
"Did we really go two weeks into the future?" Ash asked curiously, looking around him. Pikachu just chattered a bit in response beside him, Charizard just lying down on the ground for a nap. Ash looked down to see Pikachu huddling near his leg worriedly, chattering softly almost in fear.  
  
After a few moments he finally decided hanging around here wasn't doing them any good. If they'd made it to the future, all they had to do now was find Celebi and Mew, which they wouldn't do by sitting in one place. So he took off in a pretty much random direction, hoping maybe Mew had decided to hang around here instead of flitting off to some corner of the world.  
  
Ash just walked along, Pikachu at his side and Charizard still tailing behind him through the forest, careful not to let his tail flame ignite any foliage around him. Suddenly Pikachu let out a small shriek and took off in another direction.  
  
"Pikachu! Wait up!" Ash yelled as he took off after the mouse. He could hear Charizard rushing after them as he broke into another clearing, this one much larger than the first. There in the center of the clearing was a small wood pile with something lying on top of it. Pikachu ran up to the pile and stood on its hind legs, crooning softly.  
  
"What did you find?" Ash asked his pokemon as he approached the pile, looking at the form on top of it curiously. He recognized it almost instantly, but couldn't make himself believe his own eyes as she just lied on the pile of wood, her arms strapped to it with a length of rope. She just lied there limply, her eyes closed.  
  
"Misty..." Ash said softly as he walked up to the wood pile, staring in horror at her unmoving body lying on the pile of wood. Her skin when he touched her arm was pale and cold to the touch. "Misty no..." He sunk to his knees slowly beside the pile, feeling the tears stinging his eyes again as he just stared at her pale face. "I'm sorry..."  
  
"It's not too late..." Ash whirled in surprise when he heard a familiar squeaky voice from behind him. Celebi floated through the air toward him, gazing down at Misty a bit pityingly. "You can undo this."  
  
Ash just sniffled a bit, not bothering to try to hide his tears. "What did he do to her?" He asked.  
  
"He left her here." The little fairy said simply, not bothering to try to sugar-coat it or hide it from him. "He tied her down and left her here."  
  
Ash was silent for a long time, just staring at Misty with moist eyes. He had no time to waste... This was what would happen to Misty if he didn't find Mew. Despite what he'd said before, he wasn't sure he really wanted to help MewTwo anymore, but he would, for Misty's sake.  
  
"Where's Mew?" He asked, his shaky voice becoming somewhat more steady as he stood up.  
  
"I can take you to him, but time is of the essence. If MewTwo finds him first then all is lost. He is more powerful than I am, and he can block me from sending you back to the past." Celebi said.  
  
"Okay..." Ash said softly, turning away from the wood pile and walking away with his head down a bit. He stopped for a moment to look up at Charizard as he passed, then continued on his way. Behind him he heard a small growl, accompanied by a slight puff. He could hear the fire igniting the wood pile as he just kept walking, not wanting to look back at the burning funeral pyre.  
  
The three pokemon just turned to follow behind him as he walked away, not really caring where he was going for the time being, just wanting to get away from that clearing. Seeing Misty lying so still had just... Hurt him more than he thought anything ever could...  
  
He finally emerged into what he recognized as the first clearing he'd appeared in. Celebi came out of the forest behind him quickly.  
  
"Mew's found his way to the mainland, we need to fly to get there." The fairy pokemon said, hovering near Ash's head. He looked over to see Charizard already waiting for Ash to get on his back.  
  
Ash walked over and climbed on his back numbly, Pikachu hopping on between his legs. Celebi landed on Charizards head so she could give directions during flight.  
  
At that Charizard took off from the ground, lifting into the air with flaps of its mighty wings. Ash looked down at the ocean as they flew towards the mainland. Even the ocean looked different than it had on the way to the island, two weeks ago. The clouds overhead not only blocked out the sun, but also seemed to drain everything of its color, a grayish haze hung over everything.  
  
Pikachu gave a startled cry as Charizard veered violently, a dark ball of energy whizzing past them by barely an inch. Ash looked down to see a figure flying toward them fast, glowing brightly with psychic energy.  
  
"It's MewTwo!" Celebi cried, taking flight and heading down to the forest to take cover. Ash wanted to fight him, no matter what he'd promised he just wanted to wipe that little smirk off of the clones face.  
  
"Wha!?" Ash exclaimed as Charizard suddenly started plunging downwards, right towards a nearby lake. "Charizard pull up!" He received a furious roar in response as Charizard continued its decent, the air around it glowing slightly with psychic energy.   
  
"Hold on Charizard!" Ash yanked out his pokeball and recalled Charizard just before he hit the water. He tried to swim back to the surface, but he was shoved downward by the force of MewTwo's powers, getting shoved deeper into the lake.   
  
He hit the lake bottom hard, knocking the wind out of him, which escaped to the surface in little bubbles. Ash tried desperately to move, but his arms and legs seemed to be pinned to the lake bed, trapping him there under water. He could feel his strength giving way as he struggled to lift his arms, everything already beginning to go dark to him.   
  
He could feel the lakebed beneath him give way under the pressure of MewTwo's hold. He fell through the crack falling into a huge cavern underneath the ground where he slammed down hard, clutching his side. He greedily gulped in the musty air as he struggled to a sitting position, watching as the mud surrounding the crack sealed the hole moments after it had been forced open.  
  
His legs and arms still felt weak from being without air for so long, but he assumed he'd be fine eventually. He got to his feet unsteadily, leaning heavily against the wall of the cavern. "Where am I..." He asked himself softly, looking around wearily. It was just a moderately sized cavern, probably been shut off from everything for a long time.   
  
Weakly he stumbled toward the lone exit to the cave, randomly choosing passages and paths to go through, hoping he'd find his way out eventually. He had no idea what had happened to Pikachu, but if his guess was right, anything that happened here would be undone if he could just find Mew and get him back into the past. Though for that, he needed Celebi, the little coward.  
  
Ash couldn't help but shiver slightly from the cold and his own soaked clothing. He wished he were back home, in his own comfy house with his pokemon training and Misty...  
  
He wouldn't let her be dead. He wouldn't let her die so horribly just because MewTwo decided to go on a rampage. He would save her, and he would not let her go without...   
  
First though, he felt himself falling against the wall from the cold and his own weakness, blacking out almost instantly.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Celebi flew through the air above the lake where she'd seen Ash fall frantically, scanning the watery depths for any sign of him. "Ash!" She yelled worriedly, hovering more frantically than ever. If Ash drowned, all hope of restoring the timeline was lost.  
  
So after taking a moment to gather her courage and her air supply she plunged into the water head first, moving through it as easily as she'd moved through the air. She searched for Ash as quickly as she could, not finding any trace of him anywhere in the lake.   
  
Finally she thrust herself out of the water, shaking herself dry and looking back at the water wistfully. That was it, with Ash gone, all hope was gone with him. They'd been so close to Mew too. A few more minutes and they would have had him, and Ash would be back on his way home to restore the timeline.  
  
She gave a small start as she heard a high-pitched shrieking from the edge of the lake on one of the small islands that floated inside it. Upon closer inspection, she found Ash's Pikachu resting tiredly on the island, panting furiously, its fur soaked.  
  
"Where's Ash?" Pikachu asked her in its own squeaky way. She, being a pokemon, could understand him perfectly.  
  
"I'm sorry... I think he's..." She stopped, not wanting to upset the little mouse. Though Pikachu was probably about the same size she was.  
  
"No, he's alive!" Pikachu insisted, climbing to its hind legs with much difficulty. "He has to be..."  
  
She caught him as he stumbled a bit faintly. He wasn't dangerously weak, but he still wouldn't be battling anything for a good while. "Come on, let's get you to a nice soft bed..." Celebi said, putting her arms around his furry yellow waist and taking off across the water, Pikachu just hanging limply in her arms.  
  
She heard Pikachu's faint gasp as they approached the nearest town, Vermilion City. She knew Mew was in there somewhere, but without someone to convince him to go back, there was no point in seeking him out. The city itself though was in ruins, buildings were beginning to crumble both from disuse and MewTwo's attack.  
  
"What happened here?" Pikachu asked in awe as she flew without hesitation into the inn. They would be safe enough in here, MewTwo never attacked wild pokemon. Gently she set him in the bed and covered him up with the blanket.  
  
"MewTwo went on a rampage when Ash didn't return. He swore to find Mew by any means necessary and began his impossible search. He demolished anything that got in his path, which was everything." She replied, landing on the bed beside him, as it was easily big enough to comfortably fit five pokemon their size.  
  
"Why can't you send Mew back without Ash?" Pikachu asked curiously.  
  
"Because Mew's too powerful, if he doesn't want to go he won't go. His coming here was accidental and because of that accident Mew fears me. I need someone to convince him he should go back." She said, sighing a bit in resignation. "The reason I chose Ash was because Mew knows him and trusts him, but nobody else is left now. I guess all we can do is live the best we can in this timeline."  
  
"Wait, I thought you were a different Celebi?" Pikachu asked confusedly.  
  
"Don't even try to grasp it, you'll give yourself a headache." She said, smiling at him slightly. Well all hope of restoring the supposed timeline was gone, might as well try to enjoy this timeline as much as she could.  
________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Ash woke up slowly, blinking against the soft glow of a campfire beside the sleeping bag he was wrapped up in. He could tell he was still in a cavern, but it wasn't the same one he had been in before, someone had moved him. He also saw all of his clothing set out beside the fire to dry.  
  
"You awake now?" He turned his head weakly to see Duplica kneeling over him, looking down at him worriedly. "Good, I was afraid you were already dead..."  
  
"What... Happened?" Ash asked, pulling one hand out of the sleeping bag to hold his head.  
  
"I found you in the cavern passed out... Now you tell me. Where have you been all this time?" Duplica demanded, looking as stern now as she had worried a few moments ago.  
  
"It's a long story..." Ash said as he tried to sit up, but Duplica calmly shoved him back down without effort, so he decided to lie back again. "I have to find Mew..."  
  
"It's a little late for that isn't it?" Duplica asked bitterly, her words stinging him like acid. "MewTwo's already destroyed everything, almost everyone's already gone."  
  
"No... I can make everything right..." Ash said weakly. "I just have to find Mew and Celebi..."  
  
"What's a Celebi?"  
  
"It's a long story... Help me up..." He tried to sit up again, this time managing to throw the covers off of him and start getting dressed, not really caring that she was still right beside him. "How long have I been here?"  
  
"A few hours." Duplica answered, politely looking away while he got dressed.  
  
"Where are we?" He asked as he slid his denim jacket back on. It wasn't totally dry yet, but it was enough to not freeze him to death down here.  
  
"This is the Diglett Tunnel. MewTwo doesn't really go below ground, so we're safer than anywhere else we could be, though that's not saying much." Duplica answered.  
  
"Diglet Tunnel?" Ash said, looking around him. "So one way leads to Viridian City, the other way leads to Vermilion City." He mused to himself, looking around. "I was thrown down in the lake around Vermilion, so let's go there."  
  
"Wait Ash, didn't you hear me? MewTwo attacks any humans who show up above ground, you don't stand a chance!" Duplica shouted, running after him as he started stalking down the tunnel towards Vermilion City.  
  
"If there's any chance I can keep all of this from happening I'm gonna do it." Ash said, ignoring her as he kept on down the tunnel. Suddenly he heard a slight rumbling sound echo through the tunnel. "What's that?"  
  
"It's just the Diglet." Duplica responded, stepping to the side as a chunk of dirt landed right beside her, the rumbling growing even louder.  
  
"JUST the Diglet huh?" Ash asked as he went into a sprint, Duplica right behind him. By now the entire cavern was beginning to vibrate violently, throwing them off balance more than once.   
  
"Light! Up ahead!" Duplica shouted as they continued down the tunnel, an entire section collapsing just before they got clear of that section, but they weren't out of the tunnel yet. Ash hears a loud shout from directly behind him, causing him to turn and see what's going on.  
  
Duplica's legs were caught under the collapse of the section they'd just left, trying desperately to free herself. "Go Ash!"  
  
"I can't leave you here!" Ash yelled, looking up as the section directly above him began to give way.  
  
"If you're right, and you can stop all this from happening, I'll be alive again! But only if you get going right now!" She shouted forcefully.  
  
Ash just stared at her for a moment before responding. "I won't let you down this time." She nodded gravely before he turned and sprinted out of the tunnel just as the rest of it collapsed with a thunderous roar, sending up a thick cloud of dirt.  
  
He stopped just outside to catch his breath, leaning against the wall. Suddenly it occurred to him that he hadn't seen Ditto anywhere down there. It'd probably gone before... He wouldn't let this all be his future. He would change all of this. Pikachu and Celebi had to be around here somewhere.  
  
Wearily he pushed himself away from the wall and headed into town, passing by a few ruined buildings as he made his way to the center of town. It looked like Pewter City had when he'd been there. Were all of the towns like this?  
  
He was more than a little embarrassed when he heard his stomach growling viciously. What a time to be hungry. Well he hadn't eaten anything since two weeks ago, he really did deserve a quick something. Besides, he had no idea where to look, maybe he'd find something in the pokemart?  
  
Slowly he made his way to the pokemart and went inside, looking around at all of the fully stocked shelves. It was primarily for pokemon stomachs, but it had been the closest shop and did have some small treats for the trainers that came in.  
  
He walked up to the counter and grabbed a wrapped up candy bar, but it was totally rotted from sitting there too long. Discouraged he hopped over the counter to dig around behind it, looking for anything edible. Finally he found some rice cakes that appeared to be in fairly decent condition, but he wasn't quite THAT hungry, so he decided to pass on lunch.  
  
Upon standing up and hopping back over the counter he was surprised to see Pikachu and Celebi digging into a bag of pokemon food in one of the isles. "Pikachu!" Ash yelled running over. Pikachu looked up, seeing him. Then with a joyous shout leapt into Ash's arms.  
  
"Ash you're alive!" Celebi exclaimed, floating happily into the air. "Now we can find Mew, get you guys back to your own time, and stop all of this from happening!"  
  
"Let's do it." Ash said gravely, still holding Pikachu in his arms as they headed out of the building. "Do we need to fly again?"  
  
"No, Mew's hiding out in this town. Since he arrived here Mew's been nothing but confused about everything, and he's even afraid of MewTwo." Celebi responded.  
  
"In this town?" Ash asked. "Then let's find him and take him home."  
  
"Follow me." The little fairy said as she floated along the street, Ash and Pikachu following behind her. She led them to a small house in the dead center of town with nothing in it seemingly. She stopped outside, turning to Ash. "You go in."  
  
"Are you sure Mew's in there?" Ash asked.  
  
"Yes, I can sense him. If I can sense him, MewTwo can too so hurry it up."  
  
"Right." Ash went inside the building. It was a normal house with no special stand out features or anything, but something felt off about the room, like he wasn't alone. "Mew? It's me, Ash."  
  
A little white figure suddenly appeared in front of him, crooning softly. "There you are." Ash said, reaching one hand up to take a tiny paw, but Mew ducked away from him quickly, mewing in alarm. "It's okay, I want to take you home."   
  
Suddenly the entire roof of the building began to shake violently, tearing off of its moorings and flying off the top of the building. MewTwo floated silently into the building, landing between Ash and Mew, facing Ash.  
  
[Thank you for helping me find Mew, but you're far too late]  
  
Ash growled a bit, his fists clenching tightly as he glared angrily at MewTwo. "You didn't have to do any of this..." He said, his voice raising to a shout. "None of this was necessary!"  
  
MewTwo simply ignored him and turned around to look at Mew, who was cowering behind the bookshelf. [Come with me. We can go home now] Mew yowled a bit in fear and streaked across the room, burying itself under Ash's denim jacket. [What]  
  
"He's afraid of you MewTwo! After everything you've done, all this destruction you've caused, Mew's afraid of you!" Ash yelled as Mew stuck one head out, shaking a bit.  
  
[No. You've done something to him] MewTwo proclaimed, his psychic powers engulfing the entire house. [I won't let you turn him against me] The entire building started moving itself, what's left falling right towards Mew and Ash.  
  
"Time to go home!" Celebi shouted, flinging herself right in front of the building, surprising MewTwo.   
  
Suddenly everything shifted and warped itself again, settling back into a similar, but different configuration. Ash found himself standing in front of a woman who was getting dressed for the day, Pikachu beside him and Mew still stuffed in his jacket.  
  
"I'm so sorry!" Ash screamed, dashing out of the house as the woman started flinging things at him randomly. He jumped to the side just in time to avoid the kitchen sink as it flew by him. He panted a bit, trying to calm himself down. He was back in his own time, all he had to do was find MewTwo in this time and give Mew back and he'd be done.  
  
"Wait a minute..." Ash said, looking around. Hadn't it been just past midnight when he'd left his time? How much time had passed since he'd left? If it was more than two days...   
  
"Charizard! Come on!" He quickly whipped out the pokeball with Charizard, who appeared in a brilliant flash of light. "Take me back to MewTwo's island where we found Misty!" The winged pokemon gave a small roar of affirmation before letting them hop on and taking off, flying quickly through the air. Ash looked up at the sun worriedly as they flew, he hoped they weren't too late...  
  
A harried exclamation from Pikachu called Ash's attention to Viridian City as they passed by it, shouts of panic and scream of horror ringing from it. Great, what should he do first, go after Misty or deliver Mew? After a few moments of painstaking indecision, he finally forced himself to make a choice  
  
"Charizard..." Ash said, closing his eyes and frowning a bit. "Go... Take us to... Viridian City..." He said finally, causing his ride to veer abruptly towards the town.   
  
As they neared the town Ash could hear dozens of screams of terror and pain, rising above all of them was MewTwo's mental cry of fury as he steadily demolished buildings and people alike.  
  
Ash could feel Mew shifting under his jacket in response to MewTwo's presence. All at once the little cat streaked out of Ash's jacket toward the town, finding MewTwo without difficulty.  
  
[Mew] The mental voice said, resounding through the minds of everyone present. Mews responding croon was enough to calm the clone down. [So there you are]  
  
"I found your pokemon MewTwo, now go back to your island and stay there forever!" Ash screamed furiously as Charizard landed in front of the two cat-like pokemon.  
  
MewTwo actually seemed to smile slightly as Mew circled around him energetically, excited to be back home again. [As promised, I will return to my island] He said, looking up. [And as promised, I will return the girl] Ash looked up as Misty appeared in a flash of blue light, looking a bit haggard, but otherwise unharmed.  
  
"Misty!" Ash exclaimed as she slowly floated to the ground.  
  
"Ash, there you are, what took so long? It was boring being tied up and stuff." Misty said as her feet hit the ground. She was more than a little shocked when Ash flung himself into her, hugging her fiercely. "Ash?" She asked confused.  
  
"I was... Scared..." Ash managed to push out through his tears falling lightly on her neck. He couldn't help it, he never really thought about not having her around. The thought of her dying without him being able to do anything about it had just killed him inside.  
  
"Ash..." She said softly, a bit puzzled but not complaining in the slightest. "Come on Ash I'm okay, see?" She waved her arms a bit to demonstrate that she was indeed very much alive.   
  
Ash sniffled slightly, trying to compose himself, but quickly gave up and just held onto her, burying his head in her shoulder.   
  
Misty sighed and noticed Duplica walking up to them and grinning, Ditto trailing behind her.  
  
"Knew you'd find her Ash, like a knight in shining armor." Duplica quipped as she walked up.  
  
"Oh..." Ash quickly pulled away from Misty slightly, desperately trying to dry his eyes, thoroughly embarrassed. "I was just... Uh... Saying hi..."  
  
"Sure you were." Duplica said with a sly smile.  
  
"Where's Brock?" Misty asked curiously.  
  
"He decided to stay in Pewter City and help rebuild..." Duplica said, not really needing to say more.  
  
"Well let's get home, I'm tired and hungry." Misty said, leaning slightly on Ash as they turned and headed back to Pallet town. Though whether she needed to lean on him to walk or not, she would never tell.  
  
THE END 


End file.
